I didn't make my A goal for this race, but cut it quite close - 34 seconds off. I think this was due to poor pacing and feeling (or being?) less trained than Spring season. There isn't much to regret, as I gave it a good effort and still made a PR. I feel very sneaky setting these conservative race goals, but I know one day the PR train will be harder to catch. For now, I'll enjoy slicing the slivers of time off each race until I'm maxed out and there's no excess to cut anymore. :)
Arriving in Philly
My weekend was quite lovely. It begins with me trekking over to Philly on Friday afternoon. I caught a Megabus from DC over to Philly and reunited with long lost college friend, Amy, whom I hadn't seen since 2009. Amy's been working and living in Philly for the past 5-6 years. She's one of the most upstanding people I know, a dentist at a non-profit health center that serves low-income and underserved populations. In college, I knew her to be a connector of people and an active member of all of her communities - church, Taiwanese organizations, and maintaining a seemingly impossible close connection with her vast network of friends. As we caught up over dinner at a Burkinabé restaurant, it was clear things hadn't changed. She's still generous with her time and support, believes in social justice and fully in immersing herself with the community she serves such that she purchased a house in the same neighborhood of the health center where she works. As she was telling me stories about her patients and some of the issues she's encountered while trying to mentor local youth and connect the underserved with public services, I couldn't help but feel that I should be doing more myself. If only the world were filled with more people like her... Of course, some of our conversation bordered on dark and disturbing and I learned about what a tough skin she's developed as a Philly resident! I enjoyed catching up with her so much that it was hard to call it a night and go to bed.
Saturday: A day for sights
Saturday began slowly ... I was surprisingly exhausted despite getting tons of sleep. Amy revived me by taking me to La Colombe, an expansive, warehouse-sized coffee shop with open beam ceilings, smooth wood paneling, and a modern yet comfortable vibe. The shop had such flair and polish; every ingredient and design choice (like offering cinnamon sticks that could be freshly grated by hand into your coffee) was deliberate and chosen with care. I told her that if I were a Philly resident, I could see myself perching often at this shop and pouring away oodles of my money.
The coffee was a pit stop on the way to grab some yummy and inexpensive pho for lunch. I hate to say it, but this was possibly better than some of the pho I've had in DC (gasp!):
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| Oh, glorious pho with such flavorful broth. I wish there was more of you in NC.... |
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| Adorable Amy. |
I wanted to visit the Art Museum and figured that a few hours spent on my feet wouldn't do me any harm. (Another point for why halfs are so great - no need to freak out about resting your legs or wasting precious energy by doing normal activities like standing and walking!) Except... as Amy and I ascended the final set of stairs to go into the building, I tripped and slammed my knee on the same steps that Rocky the boxer had once triumphantly completed at the end of his ominously victorious run. Yes, let's juxtapose Rocky's triumph with my disgrace.
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| Hallowed steps, site of my shame. |
The pain was intense: I spent about 5-10 minutes trying to laugh it off, failing because I was paralyzed in pain, and then resigned to focus on continual breathing. While I breathed heavily, a random man next to me witnessed everything and tried to shower me with his concerned attention. In theory it was thoughtful, but in reality, the whole situation was ridiculous. In being overly helpful, he offered to carry me up the stairs and lingered longer than was socially acceptable as I tried to shoo him away to wallow in my embarrassment and pain paralysis. It seemed like I couldn't say no enough times. Amy watched this drag on with confusion because the progression from upright to on the ground happened so quickly. Amy, who doesn't enjoy running, immediately chirped in a grave tone, "I'll take your bib. Just kidding, only for one mile." I joked about how my NC running buddies would look up my time and ask me how I came to run a personal worst. Except the thought that I had perhaps blown it for the race really did occur to me. I vowed to sit down for a bit, walk it off, and use our museum time to gauge how bad things were. This incident would later become a recurring joke between us - how I would shatter my other knee just to make my injury symmetric and how the guy who "really wanted to help" would re-emerge at my moment of distress. (We like coping with our dark humor.)
My knee throbbed with soreness, but I felt like I was able to get around the museum unencumbered. There were many fascinating pieces, like this incomplete Klimt. I loved analyzing the museum's curating decisions: for instance, which pieces they decided to place side by side or in the same room, how several of the pieces by famous artists like Klimt and Cezanne were unfinished, but deemed worthy enough to be showcased and even featured on its own wall. I wondered if these artists, like Emily Dickinson and many writers who wanted unfinished works and personal letters burned posthumously, would have been bothered that their audience could see the crude lines and a problem-solving process that never came to fruition.
The rest of Saturday passed by in a flurry. I went in and out of the large expo and grabbed my packet, checked into my hotel with some slight hitches, ventured around the surrounding blocks in search of my race morning bagel, and then headed over to Stella Rossa for pasta dinner with my Oiselle teammates in the span of 2 hours. It was wonderful to unite with my Ragnar teammates. I truly am grateful to Oiselle for bringing us together, though I wish we had more opportunities to hang out. My time in Philly was too short and limited, though I was grateful to spend more quality time with my long lost Amy.
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| At long last, reunited with my FlockYOUlikeahurricane gals. Photo courtesy of Stacey. Many thanks to Danielle for organizing! |
The Race
My knee had begun to feel better, though I noted at 5 am that it still hurt to bend. I decided since I had just bruised it by impacting it against the concrete, it would pose no barriers to running the race (unless the race suddenly involved lots of squats or jumping). My assessment was correct.
Usually, I don't notice much about my corral assignment. The size of the field and the logistics of having to walk through each corral to get to mine made me super aware that I was in the first corral. It felt so far up, for some reason. Or maybe I just felt small. As I tried to find people to unknowingly become my human shield from the morning chill, I noted that the corral was mostly filled with men. It felt odd. I regard myself as a solid midpacker, just trying to eke out my goals slowly and steadily. I don't know how to describe my self-consciousness adequately. I was surrounded by mostly male racers, with a slim female:male ratio... I felt a little out of my league and not entirely sure of myself. Imposter syndrome, perhaps? It wasn't enough to make me question my ability to run my goal time, but enough to make me feel slightly out of place and awkward.
The race went by in a blur. Maybe my own self-awareness at the start caused me to run the first 10k slightly faster than I would usually do. Maybe it was because I really wanted to out-run two of my male training group buddies and I knew I had to feel the burn to accomplish it. But I remember thinking around 5k that I was already in discomfort mode. It was such that as miles 6, 9, and 11 passed, there were moments where I vacillated between two extremes - wondering when the next mile marker would come up or feeling perplexed that I was already at that point in the race. According to my first and second half splits, I began to slow down by 10 seconds per mile slower than goal pace. I knew it was happening during the race, just not to that extent. I could feel the fatigue eating at my legs and I allowed myself to try to "recover" by easing up. While I consider myself fairly good at maintaining consistent pacing, this race showed me I still have to actively remind myself that negative splits are better and not to get caught up in my own head and go out too fast. I still have much to practice and learn.
The course was, for the most part, enjoyable. I knew beforehand there were elevation changes, but the intensity of the two hills caught me off guard. (What's even more amazing is that all the runners around me seemed to barrel up them with ease! Wtf!) They weren't monstrously bad, but took it out of me. I suppose I didn't know what I should have expected. Minus those two hills, the course was scenic and I felt like I got to see much of Philly's beauty. We were brought along the Benjamin Franklin Bridge. We saw Philly's architecture - I'll never forget the adrenaline rush of running through Chestnut Street with the shadowy buildings and an endless row of spectators flanking both sides of the street. This is where I saw Danielle with her sign and cowbell. Before that, the Geico gecko lizard, who saw me looking a little worn and gave me a thumbs up, to whom I responded with a high five.
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| Putting up a good fight |
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| Looking worse for the wear, towards the end |
For the most part, I felt off during the race. I missed grabbing a cup at the water station and had to run back a bit to grab a new one. This doesn't usually happen. At another water stop, a runner in front of me missed his and the gatorade-filled cup landed right at my feet. It took a few miles for my shoe to dry. I tried to fully embrace the fun of the race by giving many high fives to children and adult spectators. I tried to thank people and smile when I could, but it was tough given my exertions.
So yeah, I missed my time goal by 34 seconds. I didn't pace myself well - possibly cost myself with my poor pacing. But overall, I'm not disappointed. I come away from this with the understanding that I contributed to the challenge of the race by pacing poorly and not training as intensely this season, but the latter for good reason. I'm still satisfied, though. I PRed and I'm hopeful that I will do better next time.
Race Review
The Philly Half & Full Marathon were impressively well organized and efficient. I walked into the large expo and was able to quickly obtain my bib. Despite 30,000 participants in both events, the corrals were never super packed. There was slight shuffling and skirting around participants at the start, but nothing obvious or irritating. My initial concerns about bag check taking too long and possibly leaving me scrambling last minute to get into my corral or out in the cold with only my racing gear on, turned out to be unjustified. I was able to easily drop my bag off 20 minutes before the gun went off and picking up my gear afterwards took a matter of minutes. I did not use the porta potties that morning, so I cannot speak to that aspect. My NC running crew has been pressuring me to run this race again (making it the second 2014 race I will re-run in 2015) and I'm contemplating it. We'll see.
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| Post-race. Friends make it better. <3 Pic courtesy of Stacey. |
Time: 1:40:34
Average: 7:40 min/mile
Entire Field: 1026/15,675, 7th percentile
Average: 7:40 min/mile
Entire Field: 1026/15,675, 7th percentile
Gender: 295/7,837, 4th percentile
Division: 52/1,278, 4th percentile
Division: 52/1,278, 4th percentile
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